About ASEANstats

About Us

ASEAN Statistics Division (ASEANstats) is one of the divisions under the ASEAN Economic Community Department of the ASEAN Secretariat in charge of providing statistical services to the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN bodies and ASEAN stakeholders. ASEANstats is also the technical arm of the ASEAN Community of Statistical System (ACSS).

ASEANstats is guided by the intentions and goals of the ASEAN Charter and vision of the ASEAN Community in the design and implementation of statistical cooperation activities. We refer to the information requirements of regional policies, and programs as well as the priorities spelled out in the ASEAN national strategies for the development of statistics in developing and compiling indicators and data for ASEAN purposes. We adopt the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and adhere in particular, to the core values of public service, user orientation, integrity, excellence, professionalism and independence in the development and delivery of statistical products and services.

ASEANstats is committed to serving the statistical information needs of the peoples, institutions, businesses and civil societies of ASEAN and of the international community. ASEANstats aims to become an authoritative source of relevant, comparable and timely ASEAN statistics to facilitate knowledge building in a strong, confident and respected ASEAN Community. ASEANstats, in cooperation with the ASEAN Member States’ national statistical systems, also aims to help build and promote the use of knowledge about the ASEAN Community – its peoples and institutions, economies, societies and cultures.

Our Functions

The main functions of ASEANstats are:

Development of regional indicators, data frameworks and systems for monitoring ASEAN Community goals and initiatives;

Compilation, consolidation, dissemination and communication of statistical information on the ASEAN region and its Member States;

Provision of statistical services to the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN bodies and ASEAN stakeholders;

Implementation, coordination and facilitation of regional statistical programs and activities including those of the working groups and task forces within the ASEAN Framework of Cooperation in Statistics, with guidance from the ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Committee; and

Implementation of policies and facilitation of partnerships between the ACSS Committee, ASEAN bodies, and international/regional statistical communities.

In carrying out our functions, we:

Mobilize the national statistical systems and institutions in the ASEAN Member States and assist in building their relevant statistical capacities;

Liaise with the national statistical institutions, international/regional statistical agencies and related organizations on technical cooperation and development; and

Monitor and evaluate the implementation of programs and activities on ASEAN statistical cooperation.

Our Means of Coordination

We work hand in hand with ASEAN Member States in building statistical capacities, promoting international standards and best practices, and harmonizing statistics through, among others, the following mechanisms:

The creation of the ACSS Committee was endorsed by the 43rd Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers in August 2011 in Manado, Indonesia. Three months after its adoption, the ACSS Committee was formally launched and convened its inaugural meeting in November 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The ACSS Committee assumes greater role and stronger mandate on ASEAN Statistical Cooperation. It shall lead in building the ASEAN Community Statistical System in 2015 through the following:

Strengthening the capacity of the national statistical systems and the ASEAN Secretariat;

Improving comparability of ASEAN statistics;

Enhancing communication between data users and producers;

Establishing an appropriate institutional framework for ASEAN statistics; and

Supporting evidence-based and informed decision making in the ASEAN Community.

ACSS Sub-Committee on Planning and Coordination (ACSS-SCPC)

The ACSS-SCPC was installed along with the ACSS Committee in November 2011, to address the strong need for coordination of statistical activities at the regional level in meeting the expanded coverage of statistics under the purview of the ACSS Committee. It assumes the role of the focal point and provides leadership support to the Committee Chair.

The ASEAN Integration Monitoring Directorate (AIMD) is one of the three directorates under the ASEAN Economic Community Department of the ASEAN Secretariat.

The AIMD is responsible, among others, for spearheading the implementation of regional surveillance and economic integration monitoring in ASEAN; providing high level policy and technical advice and recommendations to support ASEAN economic integration initiatives; and shaping the economic research and policy analysis programme of ASEAN Secretariat. The Directorate has four divisions, namely:

Monitoring, Surveillance, and Coordination Division

Analysis and Monitoring on Trade, Industry & Emerging Issues Division

Analysis and Monitoring on Finance & Socio-Economic Issues Division, and

Our Working Groups

A detailed project implementation plan for the harmonization of international goods and services statistics was endorsed by AHSOM 6 in August 2005. The Task Force on International Merchandise Trade Statistics (TFIMTS) was created in 2006 and resumed under AHSOM 10 in 2010 at Chiang Mai, Thailand. The ACSS Committee at its Third Session in Brunei Darussalam, October 2013, adopted the Terms of Reference of the WGIMTS from the TFIMTS in order to reflect its permanent status within the decision making framework of the ACSS Committee. The main objective of the ASEAN WGIMTS is to facilitate the development and harmonization of IMTS, enhance timeliness and effectiveness of IMTS data sharing and dissemination, and to better respond to the information requirements in support of economic integration and development as envisaged in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint. The ToR of the WGIMTS were adopted at the Third Session of the ACSS Committee in October 2013.

Following the decision of the higher ASEAN bodies to transfer the supervision of the Working Group on Foreign Direct Investment Statistics (WGFDIS) to the ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Committee and the ASEAN Coordinating Committee, new efforts to enhance the mechanism of the WGFDIS would include amending the Terms of Reference, which was drafted initially in 2000, to reflect the new reporting structure and scope of the work program. The 24th Meeting of the WGFDIS in January 2012 in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar decided to rename the WGFDIS to Working Group on International Investment Statistics (WGIIS). The objective of the WGIIS is to promote the development, compilation, dissemination and reporting of international investment statistics by ASEAN Member States for the design, development, implementation and monitoring of ASEAN investment policies and programs. The ToR of the WGIIS were adopted at the Second of the ACSS Committee in September 2012.

The original Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services were adopted at AHSOM 7 in Brunei Darussalam in November 2006. The first ToR of the TFSITS was amended in January 2010 at AHSOM 10 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. At the Third Session of the ACSS Committee in October 2013, the TFSITS was converted into the WGSITS for following reasons: 1) to reflect its permanent status within the decision making framework of the ACSS Committee; 2) to take account the initiative on the harmonization of SITS; and 3) to address the emerging needs for more detailed, more comparable, and more comprehensive SITS in various forms. The ToR of the WGSITS were adopted at the Third Session of the ACSS Committee in October 2013.

The Working Group on Data Sharing, Analysis, Dissemination and Communication of ASEAN Statistics (WGDSA) was initially created under AHSOM 9 in January 2009 in Singapore and its revised Terms of Reference were adopted at the Second Session of the ACSS Committee in 27-28 September 2012 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The WGDSA aims to improve the national and regional capacities in information development and analysis, dissemination and communication of statistics in support of regional policy and program implementation, monitoring/evaluation, and improved governance and accountability in ASEAN.

Working Group on Social Development Goals (WGSDGI)

The Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals Indicators (WGSDGI) aims to address the statistical requirements in monitoring and reviewing the implementation of the SDGs in the ASEAN Member States (AMS), in the ASEAN, as well as the region’s position at the global level. The establishment of WGSDGI was initially to address the emerging global initiatives from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that was adopted by the world leaders in September 2015. Statistical systems in all countries are urged to promote stronger global cooperation as well as regional and national stakeholder partnerships to mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources for supporting the implementation of SDG. The 5th Session of the ACSS Committee endorsed the TOR of WGSDGI and requested to start working on the implementation plan of the ASEAN SDG data compilation in AMS, including defining the SDG priority indicators, harmonization of the indicators, data collection templates and procedures, as well as data dissemination/communication, which is in line with ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and its Blueprints.

Working Group on System on National Account (WGSNA)

The Working Group on System National Account (WGSNA) aims to promote the implementation of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) in ASEAN Member States, including setting the targets of milestone, minimum required data sets and conceptual compliance with the 2008 SNA, as well as harmonization and development of relevant macroeconomic statistics in supports of the 2008 SNA implementation. The WGSDGI is mandated to coordinate in promoting the production and dissemination of national accounts statistics for monitoring the economic performance and development of individual ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN as a whole. The WGSNA carries out its functions and activities under the purview of the ASEAN Community Statistical System (ACSS) Committee. The 5th Session of the ACSS Committee endorsed the TOR of WGSNA with the immediate mandate to start working in developing the ASEAN 2008 SNA roadmap/work plan in line with ACSS Strategic Plan 2016-2025.